1945 theatrical poster for Detour

Image: Producers Releasing Corporation / Wikimedia Commons · source · Public domain

Detour

1945 · United States · Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer · 69 min

BleakStrange Approachable · Easy Crime

A doomed hitchhike into the bleakest B-movie poetry.

Watch · Rent · ReadWatchRentRead U.S. search links, not availability claims · Disclosure

What to expect

Detour strips film noir to a road, a few rooms, and a narrator whose account never feels entirely safe. Its modest scale becomes an advantage: every unlucky turn seems tighter, stranger, and more inescapable. The film endures as a compact vision of guilt and self-deception, where rough edges add to the sensation that fate has closed in before anyone noticed.

How to ease in

Take the narration as testimony, not objective truth. The film moves fast and leaves rough seams visible, so it helps to listen for the moments when Al explains too much or turns a choice into something fate supposedly did to him. The small budget is part of the atmosphere: anonymous rooms and rear-projected roads make the journey feel like a bad memory being replayed.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes coercion, threats, violence between partners, accidental death, and a bleak fatalistic tone.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →

A doomed hitchhike into the bleakest B-movie poetry.

Detour feels as if it has already gone wrong before the first scene begins. I am fascinated by the gap between the narrator's weary certainty and the choices visible on screen.

Open the note ↓

Detour feels as if it has already gone wrong before the first scene begins. I am fascinated by the gap between the narrator's weary certainty and the choices visible on screen. The film is tiny, but that narrowness suits it: there is nowhere for its excuses to stretch out, and nowhere for us to look away.

— Momo

Momo sharing a personal take on this film

Credits & versions

Version map

Criterion 69-minute restoration69 minCriterion identifies its restored black-and-white United States presentation as 69 minutes.Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-16

Ways to watch and read

ActionSearch destination
WatchCheck availability on JustWatch
RentSearch rentals on Apple TV
ReadSearch books on Bookshop.org

U.S. search destinations · Links checked 2026-07-27 · Stock, editions, prices, and availability can change · Disclosure

Where to go next

Want a gentler, shorter, or stranger next film? Ask Momo for something like this →
Momo is on shift. Visit Momo Cinema →

Continue through the catalogue →